Death Stranding is an open-world videogame released exclusively for the PS4. Set in the United States after a strange cataclysmic event, you play Sam Porter a tough supply courier who’s tasked with delivering cargo to remote outposts. In fact, he’s more like a mule who carries everything on his back. But, it’s his special abilities that set him apart from everyone else.
The first thing that strikes you about Death Stranding is its beautiful landscapes and meticulously rendered characters. The rugged mountain terrains and Militaristic cities are beautifully realized by Hideo Kojima with a strong emphasis on interactive gameplay such as whether Sam prefers to pee sitting or standing — yes, there’s a gameplay option for it.
Death Stranding is created with Decima a Proprietary game engine capable of 4k resolutions. It also has built in-game physics and AI which create stunning graphics that are clearly on display in Death Stranding. There’s no framerate drop or stuttering in this game and it really does feel like your in an interactive movie. Unfortunately, it falls short when you get into the story aspect.
Sam’s long lost sister Amelie, has been captured by militants called the Homo-demons while on an expedition trying to connect all the remote settlements. She’s sent Sam a holographic communiqué to ask him for help, and after some persuasion he does. The narrative is full of lengthy — flag-waving dialogue about the betterment of humanity, and there’s also some shameless product placement as cans of “Monster” energy drink can be used as Sam’s go-to sugar boost.
Norman Reedus (Sam Porter) pretty much plays the same part as Daryl Dixon in The Walking Dead, an emotionally damaged loner with a secret heart of gold. However, in Death Stranding, he has to help save America — cue The Star-Spangled Banner. After reams of exposition which bluntly hammer home every metaphor and plenty of acronyms thrown in to confuse you, off he sets to help his sister.
Death Stranding-ly weird
With all the advanced technology and weird shit that’s going on in Death Stranding, you can’t help but wonder why Sam’s still walking over mountains to deliver stuff. In Capital Knot City, there are tons of unused vehicles in parking bays but there’s never an option to use them. Instead, he has to wander miles to deliver cargo before he can pick up a Trike. Yet even on normal difficulty he seldom drops dead from exhaustion.
Sam’s special gift is he’s a “Repatriate.” which basically means he can’t die, instead he returns to the “Seam” which is an underwater world where he rejuvenates Ta-da! The only problem is when he’s killed or eaten by a “BT” it causes an explosion which wipes out large areas and anyone in the vicinity is killed — Are you still with me?
There’s soooo much walking in this videogame with nothing else except the landscape to look at. In fact, you feel like you’re on a walking vacation until you come across MULE’s which are rogue porters that steal Sam’s cargo. These guys can be fought off but sometimes Sam has to recover cargo by infiltrating a MULE settlement.
One of Sams main tasks is to reconnect different areas to the Chiral Network which is like trying to get decent broadband in the Outer Hebrides. He has to wander from one location to another recovering lost cargo and trying to keep out of the rain known as “Timefall” which damages his cargo and armor and produces weird alien entities.
The controls are affected by the load he carries and can make Sam sway, trip or fall. However, If he happens to be wading through deep water he can float on his back like an inflatable dingy which is quite amusing. Yes, he’s like Inspector Gadget with floatation aids built into his suit — “Go go gadget Dingy.”
The inventory menu feels needlessly complicated to navigate with controller buttons mapped to several different functions which take some getting used to, especially when Sam wants to build a post box or a bridge with the 3D printer. However, as the game continues you become used to the counter-intuitive nature of this game.
One frustrating thing about Death Stranding is when Sam drops valuable cargo he has to retrieve it to complete the order which becomes very tedious after a while when you have to hike back over terrain. There’s no denying the technical skill and attention that went into developing Death Standing but the gameplay feels sporadic and disjointed with a surprisingly weak narrative once you strip back all the technobabble.
Verdict
Kojima has created a post-apocalyptic world with a plot that certainly has none of the normal tropes associated with this genre. The “Timefall” feels like a hindrance most of the time washing you away in an oily-like river but ultimately delivering you to where you want to go. There’s plenty of deep dialogue that feels like filler and repeatedly drums home the same metaphors about how we all have to work together for a better future. The only enjoyable thing about delivering all the Cargo is the beautiful scenery but the annoyingly optimistic recipients make you want to throw the cargo at them.
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